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CD-ROM problem, have some ideas but need advice...

hi
a friend of mine (housemate actually) has run into a problem with his computer, about a month ago his CD-ROM stopped working properly, it doesnt appear in the windows my computer or anywhere else, it wont read discs at all, but it will eject and close like it should, i've tried uninstalling it thru windoze but it still doesnt work

the error i get from xp pro is that the registry could be corupt or hardware could be damaged, im thinking it could be the data cable not being plugged in properly, or just loosened a bit, im not afraid of fiddling with it, but just wondering if anyone on here has any ideas as to what might be the problem, we did do a virus scan which came up with nothing (its a month out of date though...)

considering that, are there any viruses which are relatively new that can cause this or is it most likely to be the data cable to the drive itself?

[edit]forgot to mention a couple of tiny details, its an IDE drive and it has previously worked fine, its only a recent occurence[/edit]

if you said "are they any viruses which are relatively new that can cause this ?" i never seen it mate. ( perhaps not yet )
you've have scanned the virus and got none
you try to make sure the data cable pugged in properly but got none
and it still eject and close like it should... hhmm .. it never happened to me.. but have you tried to took off the CD-ROM from your computer and than try it to another computer. if it still not works , it means the CD-ROM have serious problem and i don't know much about fixing hardware . just try it mate.
but if it works in another computer , it means some files could be corrupted or reinstall the XP.

If you are experiencing problems with your CD-ROM drive in Windows XP, follow these steps:

Verify that the hardware is compatible with Windows XP:
Make sure that the CD-ROM drive is listed on the Windows hardware compatibility list (HCL).
If you use a SCSI CD-ROM drive, make sure that the SCSI controller is listed on the Windows HCL.
If your CD-ROM drive or SCSI controller is not listed on the Windows HCL, contact the device manufacturer for a Windows device driver or for compatibility information.

Verify that the CD-ROM drive is installed according to the manufacturer's specifications.

If you installed a SCSI CD-ROM drive:

Verify that the SCSI bus is terminated correctly. On a SCSI bus, the last SCSI device should be terminated by using a terminator that is provided by the manufacturer. For more information about termination, refer to the documentation for the SCSI adapter.
Verify the CD-ROM SCSI ID. The SCSI ID of the CD-ROM drive is normally set to SCSI ID 2 or higher. Make sure that the CD-ROM drive is not configured to use the same SCSI ID that another device is using. For information about how to set or change the SCSI ID of your CD-ROM drive, refer to the documentation for the CD-ROM drive.
Verify that the SCSI ID of the SCSI controller is set to SCSI ID 7.
Verify that no other adapters are configured with settings that conflict with the SCSI controller settings.

Look in Windows Event Viewer for error messages that pertain to the CD-ROM drive or SCSI controller.

Start Device Manager, and verify that Device Manager detects the SCSI controller and the CD-ROM drive and that Device Manager indicates that the devices are working properly.
If you installed an IDE CD-ROM drive:

Make sure that you are using a device driver that is designed for the IDE controller that the CD-ROM drive is attached to.

If the manufacturer does not provide a specific driver for your IDE controller, install the IDE controller driver that comes with Windows XP. This driver is compatible only with IDE CD-ROM drives that are ATAPI 1.2-compliant. To verify the ATAPI compliance level of your CD-ROM drive, contact the manufacturer of the CD-ROM drive.

If you try to install a CD-ROM drive that uses a proprietary, non-SCSI interface:
Verify that the proper device driver is installed by running Windows XP Setup and selecting Add/Remove SCSI Adapters on the Options menu.

Determine whether Windows recognizes the CD-ROM drive. Start Windows Explorer, and see whether a drive letter is assigned to the CD-ROM drive.

If the CD-ROM drive does have a drive letter, try to view a folder by using the CD-ROM drive. Make sure that you insert a data compact disc into the CD-ROM drive.
If you can read a data compact disc but cannot play a music compact disc, use one of the following methods:

In Control Panel, start Sounds and Audio Devices, click the Hardware tab, and then make sure that the CD/DVD drive is listed, along with Audio Codecs.
If these items are not listed, use the Add/Remove Hardware program in Control Panel to reinstall these drivers.

If the system is configured to dual-boot to another operating system, confirm that the CD-ROM drive functions in the other operating system. If the CD-ROM drive does not function properly in MS-DOS or in another operating system, contact the manufacturer of the drive for assistance.

What I would do is remove it from the hardwear list . then i would shut down then i would open the case take off the IDE cable the restart the computer with the IDE cable off ... let it boot to windows . The once it has restarted shutdown agin . reconnect the IDE cable to the cdrom .... And restart the computer .... It sould find "New Hardwear" and just go with the install program install all drivers ..... But Is you own something like a HP,gateway,IBM ect... and its new "*DONT OPEN THE CASE*" because you would viod the warrente . And if that the case send it back . But if you want to take a chance go ahead . Ive ran into that problem many times and i use this method and it helps .

ok here is an update on that CD-ROM problem,
we have tried the drive in another computer (my own one) and it works perfectly, not a problem at all, we tried swapping jumpers and cables on the drive to no avail, i then set the computer up so it would boot from the cd drive with the winxp pro CD in it, booted fine and started the xp setup like i expected, so that rules out the drive itself, power and data cables

we only want to do a format as a very last resort as uni is only just starting again and we need our computers all the time for work and stuff like that, BTW here is the exact error message we are getting:

"windows cannot start this device because the configuration information in the registry is incomplete or corrupted"

also as another side note, every time the computer boots up we receive one of those "computer has recovered from a serious error" messages, im pretty sure this has something to do with it as it only started happening about a month ago when the CD drive started playing up on him

i know that i can do a format / reinstall etc but if someone can possibly tell me how to fix a corrupted registry file for a cd drive, or point me in the right direction it would be really appreciated, the troubleshooter was of no help either, just said to uninstall and reinstall the device, thanks to all the guys who have made suggestions, but we've tried them al to no avail too

bios detect

mrleachy,

Does the bios detect your cd- rom.Get in-to the bios and re-detect hardisk and cdroms, then save it.Create a boot disk with cdrom support using your computer.It will start up the system and detect the cdrom drive.Then insert your xp disk and go for reinstall , and an option will be given to repair instead of reinstall.You dont have to format your hard drive.